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JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Analysts consider possibility of large-scale crash

Takeshi Kimura, president of consulting firm KPMG Financial Co., says he periodically receives calls from overseas investors who ask one chilling question.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2002

Japanese-British links after 100 years

LONDON -- The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed on Jan. 30, 1902. It was a significant and unique step for both countries. Britain had not previously concluded alliances of this nature in an area so distant from its shores; it was Japan's first alliance with a European power and confirmed its status...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 20, 2002

When the personal reveals the political

YANAIHARA TADAO AND JAPANESE COLONIAL POLICY, by Susan C. Townsend. Richmond, Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 2000, 360 pp., 50 British pounds (cloth) Recent years have witnessed a new wave of scholarly works in English on Japan's colonial past. Monographs and edited volumes by Mark Peattie, Peter Duus,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2002

Group seeks to close digital gender divide

The old stereotype of the "computer geek" -- taped Coke-bottle glasses, pens and protractors in breast pocket -- has gotten a series of upgrades over the last decade. The geek has morphed into the "techno-wizard," complete with a huge salary, power, influence and sometimes even new glasses.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jan 14, 2002

Still hurtling down the nationalist track

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In early 1997 I was hosting a reception at a Geneva hotel following a workshop on trade issues when a Japanese official took me aside. Looking at me conspiratorially, he whispered, "Professor Lehmann, I have an important question to ask you: How long do you think it will be before...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 9, 2002

Assisting artists to enrich the spirit

Despite the relentless advance of the global economy, the cliche of the starving artist or student has not completely lost its currency. Younger artists seeking to establish themselves, or scholars wishing to devote more time to their studies, are generally in for a belt-tightening experience.
COMMUNITY
Jan 6, 2002

Life in the new year: Que sera sera

What joys and sorrows will the coming year bring for Japan? Fast forward to Jan. 1, 2003, apply tongue firmly to cheek and enjoy the benefit of hindsight by reading the alternative futures contained in the 2002 diaries of long-suffering Tokyo banker Gamansuruzo Nostrodoomus, and go-getting Kansai career...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2002

East Asian community sought by region's leaders

While China drew much media attention by declaring its bid to conclude a free-trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations within 10 years, the creation of an even bigger Asian community including ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea has turned up as a hot topic.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jan 1, 2002

Troussier hoping for successful swan song

This year will be a crucial period for Japanese soccer, particularly when the national team plays in the World Cup finals from May 31-June 30 in front of its home fans.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2002

Excerpts of Baker interview

The following are excerpts from U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker's interview with The Japan Times:
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 23, 2001

Rethinking the threat that never was

NO MORE BASHING: Building a New Japan-United States Economic Relationship, by C. Fred Bergsten, Takatoshi Ito and Marcus Noland. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, October, 2001, 328 pp., $23.95 (paper). What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, the United States was widely...
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Koizumi turns blind eye to reform of farm sector

When he roared into office in April, the maverick Junichiro Koizumi vowed to die hard in a fight against old guard forces within his own Liberal Democratic Party. His proclaimed mission was clear: to turn around the decade-long economic slump in the medium and long terms through "bold structural reforms...
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Koizumi turns blind eye to reform of farm sector

When he roared into office in April, the maverick Junichiro Koizumi vowed to die hard in a fight against old guard forces within his own Liberal Democratic Party. His proclaimed mission was clear: to turn around the decade-long economic slump in the medium and long terms through "bold structural reforms...
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Nov 15, 2001

Automakers steering toward financial markets

As the nation's banking sector continues to struggle with bad debts and falling stock prices, major automakers from Japan, Europe and the United States are seeking to expand the scale and scope of their financial businesses here.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Nov 8, 2001

Japanese firms urged to better protect patents

Having lost its edge as a mass-production base, Japan's future economic prosperity depends on its innovativeness in offering high value-added products and services.
COMMENTARY
Nov 6, 2001

For an unfettered peace role

The Diet last Monday enacted an antiterrorism bill that would allow the Self-Defense Forces to give an unprecedented level of support to U.S.-led forces overseas, along with two related bills. The main bill, which provides for rear-area support, does not let the SDF take part in combat operations. It...
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Takebe hits back at criticism from Washington over WTO

Farm minister Tsutomu Takebe rebuked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Friday for criticizing Japan's "narrow minded" attitude toward the launch of a new round of trade liberalization negotiations under the World Trade Organization.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Takebe hits back at criticism from Washington over WTO

Farm minister Tsutomu Takebe rebuked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Friday for criticizing Japan's "narrow minded" attitude toward the launch of a new round of trade liberalization negotiations under the World Trade Organization.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2001

SDF antiterrorism bill wins quick Diet passage

An antiterrorism bill allowing the Self-Defense Forces to lend an unprecedented level of support to U.S.-led forces overseas cleared the Diet on Monday.
COMMUNITY
Oct 28, 2001

Kazuo Ishiguro: In praise of nostalgia as idealism

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954, and at age 5 he moved with his parents to London, where he has lived ever since. In 1986, his second novel, "An Artist of the Floating World," was nominated for Britain's leading award for fiction, the Booker Prize. Three years later, his next and arguably...
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2001

Opinions clash over SDF role in war on terror

Two days after U.S.-led forces launched a bombing campaign on Afghanistan, six Air Self-Defense Force C-130 cargo planes arrived in Islamabad with relief supplies for refugees.
JAPAN / VIEWS ON KABUL
Oct 12, 2001

Middle East specialist says give aid but keep SDF home

Last in an interview series on Afghanistan In the U.S.-led antiterrorist campaign, Japan should not only emphasize its diplomatic relations with the United States but give more consideration to sentiments in the Islamic world, according to an expert on Islamic society.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 7, 2001

Failure on a grandiose scale

DOGS AND DEMONS: Tales From the Dark Side of Japan, by Alex Kerr. Hill and Wang, New York, 2001, 432 pp., $27.00 (cloth) Staff writer What has happened to Japan? Coming on the heels of the "lost decade," the January government reshuffle and a series of reforms that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2001

Koizumi, Mbeki plan science pact

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South African President Thabo Mbeki will agree at a meeting in Tokyo this week to start negotiations on a science and technology cooperation pact, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2001

Full text of Koizumi's policy speech to Diet

Following is a provisional translation of the policy speech delivered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to an extraordinary Diet session that opened Thursday for a 72-day session.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVE
Sep 17, 2001

Inflation targets no substitute for needed structural reform

The 0.8 percent contraction in the second quarter gross domestic product, coupled with dive in Tokyo share prices, has increased pressure on the Bank of Japan to further ease its already loose monetary grip by setting inflation targets. Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the United States and the ensuing...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2001

The ideology of Japanese identity

MULTIETHNIC JAPAN, by John Lie. Harvard University Press, Cambridge University Press, 2001, 248 pp. $35 Japan and many of its observers have avoided the confusion and contention associated with diversity by assuming, asserting and elaborating a monolithic, monoethnic Japan that jostles uncomfortably...

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?